Considering Heresy: Buying a PC

I'm seriously considering not buying more Macs this season, as I usually do. Instead, I am thinking about buying PCs. I have a much longer post in my about why, but before I publish that rant, I want to ask a simple question of you all: Do you love…

I’m seriously considering not buying more Macs this season, as I usually do. Instead, I am thinking about buying PCs. I have a much longer post in my about why, but before I publish that rant, I want to ask a simple question of you all: Do you love or hate your PCs? Why?

PS – What I hear from my pals is that the machines are amazing these days, but the OS is really bad. True? False?

59 thoughts on “Considering Heresy: Buying a PC”

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I switched from years of pc’s to a mac last year and I have to say that the thought of switching back never crosses my mind.

Ok, it’s true, mac’s are more expensive, there are less options to customize the hardware and there probably is less software (although I haven’t found one application that I need that doesn’t have a mac alternative).

But I personally have no problem with the hardware stuff, the hardware is much better then a custom build pc, its a lot more quite and looks ten times better and is a lot smaller(desktop). Hardware customization is for nerds and fanatics and they are probably better of with custom hardware and linux.

I use PC/Mac at home. I have Vista,XP, Ubuntu, and Panter all running. Needless to say, my Vista box gets the most use and i find it very stable. I was also one of the beta testers for it.

At work I use server 2k3 R2 and Vista. Both of which I find to be stable. The people that have issues with windows don’t relise most of it is caused by third party apps. If Mac had as many apps on it as Windows it would more than likely have more problems.

Now I am not saying Windows is the best or better than Mac thatis up to each person to decide which they like. Good luck with this and I hope if you get a PC you do it with an open mind not a Mac mind.

I’m in the exact opposite situation. If it wasn’t for some IE-specific sites I need to visit, I would switch to a mac altogether. Though the hardware choices for PCs are killer (faster, cheaper, plentiful), I switched to vista and switched back to XP. I couldn’t take it. I also run Ubuntu, which actually does a fantastic job as well (on a dell m710 laptop). Microsoft lost me on Vista which was a bloated, rushed, over reaction to market loss to OS X. As far as using the machine, it’s a lot easier to show my mom how to use it, and the ridiculous firewall messages vista boasts are not there. no confusion, easy. the day MS cans XP, they’ve lost me as a customer, I’m off to linux and os x.

However, I have yet to really hear any complaints from non-IT home users of Vista. I use Vista Home Premium and my wife (who has a Macbook) and five year-old son have no problems with using Vista. I’m also quite pleased with Vista’s built-in Media Center that with a cheap $100 HD tuner allows me to also use the PC as a TV and DVR. The only real complaint you’re really likely to have with Vista…is it’s slow boot-up time.

I was on Mac until OSX. Then I built a Wintel machine because it sounded like fun, and because my employer steadfastly refused to let me work on a Mac so I was already steeped in Windows anyway.

Have never regretted it, though I spend more time (voluntarily) tweaking my machine and Windows than most normal people. Perhaps therein lies the difference in my experience.

Resisting Vista. Haven’t been happy the few times I futzed with it on someone else’s machine.

What do I do on my machine? Lots of audio, lots of imaging, all the things that people insist “oooooh, you have to have a Mac for that.”

You don’t.

Ultimately, it’s up to the individual. I want my computer to be a tool, not a lifestyle. Some folks think otherwise, and that’s cool too.

I made the right choice. For me. For how I work. For what I want. No complaints. As far as design-coolness factor goes, yes Mac has a lot of that going on, but I also love the Antec P180 case I built my machine in and wouldn’t trade it. tra

Now. If Mac came out with an OS that is as amazing as OS 9? I might consider going back. I looooved OS 9. (yes, I know there are arguments for, against, pro, con, etc. – but I would go back if I could).

I love my PC. I’ve used probably 6 different PC’s over the past 10 years and I have really liked them all. Few problems on some and literally no problems on the others.

I have a 2.4ghz sony vaio laptop with XP Pro, which I have never had one problem with. Not one crash not one hiccup. I’ve got a desktop at home with a 3.2ghz Pentium 4 and Windows XP that I built myself in 2004 for about $2000 (its really easy). I’ve never had a blue screen with it either. Of course that was buying a monitor for $600.

I use a 3.0ghz Xeon Dell 690 workstation at work and again I have never had a blue screen with it or any major problems. It frankly has worked flawlessly since the day I unpacked it and started installing software.

My wife has a G5 Mac with Leopard OS sitting here behind me (I’m not sure I got that right I don’t use it). I know it cost alot more than the computer I use. Overall she hasn’t had to many problems with it but it has actually crashed or locked up a couple of times.

In my opinion a Mac and a PC are practically the same save the price tag. They both use components made in taiwan, they both crash. There is a wider amount of software available for a PC, and a PC will cost less for the exact same speed processor memory storage space, etc…

Go look at a 24 inch monitor at walmart for a PC and then look at one on apple.com YIKES. Why on earth would I want to pay more for the same product? I understand paying more for something of quality but in my opinion apple is way beyond quality and closer to the price gouging, not to mention that I have to use “their” products. I prefer more flexibility in a product and with a PC I gain that flexibility.

One last note, I have used both a MAC and a PC and I will say the operating system for a PC is much more complicated. There are often 3 or more ways to do the same thing on a PC but with a MAC usually there is one way and one way only. Try opening your CD drive, on my wifes mac the only way to do it is to press open on the keyboard. On my PC I can press the button on the front of the PC or I can right click in windows explorer and select eject or etc… Some people like to do it one way and some like to do it another, with a MAC you lose that choice.